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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-15388

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15004 by Richard Lochhead on 23 February 2023, whether it will work with Glasgow City Council, the Glasgow City Region Cabinet and COSLA, to determine the feasibility of raising capital for the proposed Levelling Up Fund projects through the issuing of sub-sovereign bonds.

I appreciate the disappointment the Glasgow City Region will be experiencing following the UK Government’s decision not to support their bids for Levelling Up funding.

Any borrowing by local authorities, whether it’s through the public works loans board or through the issuance of bonds, is for local authorities to determine affordability themselves, subject to the conditions of their prudential borrowing regime.

However, any decisions to permit local authorities to issue bonds would require Ministerial consent. Ambitious investment strategies have led to financial insolvency in certain English local authorities and therefore this would require very careful consideration. My officials would be happy to discuss proposals with Glasgow City Council.

Question reference: S6W-15326

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the 2022 Scottish teacher census, which showed that there had been a reduction in teacher numbers in North Ayrshire, compared with 2021.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that numbers of teachers and support staff are protected. We will provide local government with £145.5 million in next year's budget, which is conditional on the successful delivery of the following objectives:

Maintaining teacher numbers at 2022 census levels, as published in the Summary School Statistics in December 2022.
Maintaining pupil support staff numbers at 2022 census levels, which we will publish on 21 March 2023 based on the data collected from local authorities in September 2022.
Ensuring that places remain available for probationer teachers who need them through the Teacher Induction Scheme.

Where these objectives are not being met, the Scottish Government reserves the right to withhold or recoup funding which has been provided for this purpose.

Question reference: S6W-15295

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent to date on the STEM teacher education bursary scheme.

Question reference: S6W-15300

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many recipients of a STEM teacher education bursary were offered a permanent teaching post upon completion of the one-year Teacher Induction Scheme, in each academic year since 2018-19.

Question reference: S6W-15298

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) students at Scotland’s universities in (a) physics, (b) chemistry, (c) mathematics, (d) computing science, (e) technical education, (f) home economics were STEM teacher education bursary recipients, in each academic year since 2018-19.

Bursary recipients by subject in 2018-19, as a percentage of all Scottish domiciled PDGE/PDCE enrolments that year
Chemistry (including one Biology/Chemistry dual entry)	1.63%
Computing science	0.89%
Home Economics – n/a	n/a
Mathematics (including one Maths/Physics dual entry)	3.17%
Physics	1.38%
Technical Education	1.63%
Total	8.7%

Bursary recipients by subject in 2019-20, as a percentage of all Scottish domiciled PDGE/PDCE enrolments that year
Chemistry	2.02%
Computing Science	1.05%
Home Economics	0.67%
Mathematics (including two Maths/Physics dual entries)	2.32%
Physics	0.1%
Technical Education	1.35%
Total	8.31%

Bursary recipients by subject in 2020-21, as a percentage of all Scottish domiciled PDGE/PDCE enrolments that year
Chemistry (including three Chemistry/Biology and one Chemistry/Physics dual entries)	2.37%
Computing Science	0.81%
Home Economics	1.22%
Mathematics (including five Maths/Physics dual entries)	2.44%
Physics	1.69%
Technical Education	1.63%
Total	10.17%

Bursary recipients by subject in 2021-22, as a percentage of all Scottish domiciled PDGE/PDCE enrolments that year
Chemistry (including one Chemistry/Biology dual entry)	2.26%
Computing Science	0.99%
Home Economics	0.78%
Mathematics (including three Maths/Physics dual entries)	2.9%
Physics	1.27%
Technical Education (including one Technical Education/Physics dual entry)	1.48%
Total	9.68%

Data for 2022-23 not yet available

Question reference: S6W-15302

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many current vacancies there are for full-time, permanent teaching positions in (a) physics, (b) chemistry, (c) mathematics, (d) computing science, (e) technical education and (f) home economics, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-15294

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many current vacancies there are for part-time, permanent teaching positions in (a) physics, (b) chemistry, (c) mathematics, (d) computing science, (e) technical education and (f) home economics, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-15141

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14258 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 February 2023, how many visits ministers have made to state schools over the course of the current parliamentary session, and how many invitations to visit independent schools have been received by ministers over this period.

During this period Scottish ministers received 27 formal invitations to visit independent schools and at least two visits have taken place. Government officials have ongoing engagement with the Scottish Council of Independent Schools to discuss a range of issues that affect the sector.

In addition, Scottish ministers have made 48 visits to local authority schools to date this parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-15115

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many (a) houses and (b) flats in Scotland have been demolished in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information at this level of detail. Latest published Scottish Government annual estimates on demolitions from 1999-00 up to the year 2020-21 are available on the Housing statistics: Conversions and demolitions webpage. This information is provided by local authorities but does not include a breakdown by houses or flats.

Note that these estimates are not considered comprehensive. Estimates of demolitions of local authority housing are thought to be generally accurate, however local authorities differ in their ability to provide comprehensive estimates of demolitions of private sector and housing association homes. As such, these estimates should be considered as the minimum level of demolition activity in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-15133

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many children currently living in temporary accommodation, who are of relevant age, are not enrolled and attending (a) primary and (b) secondary school.